Wills, Dorothy Abike Green : Dorothy Abike Wills, educator and community leader, was born in Pottersville, Dominica, W.I. in 1933, the daughter of Edith Lucas and Andrew Green. After receiving her early formal education in Dominica and Grenada, she obtained her BSc degree from Mount St. Vincent College in Halifax in 1956. After a brief return to Dominica, she returned to Canada to continue her education as a landed immigrant. She obtained her M.S.W. degree from McGill University in 1966, her M.A. degree from Concordia University in 1977 and her Ph.D. from Pacific Western University in 1979. She has specialized in the areas of secretarial science, social work, history, educational studies and philosophy of education. Since 1971 she has taught in the Special Care Counselling Department of Vanier College. Mrs. Wills has made significant contributions towards building intergroup harmony and positive race relations between racial and ethnocultural groups. She is also a human rights advocate and proponent for the rights of visible minorities and women.
She was a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada from 1988 to 1994.
Dorothy Wills is one of the leading national figures within the Canadian Black community. She was a founding member of the National Black Coalition in Canada in 1969. Dorothy Wills along with Howard McCurdy, Clarence Bayne, Joseph Drummond, Gus Wedderburn, Ed Clarke and Stanley Grizzle, founded the Conference Committee of Black Organizations which later became the NBCC. During her period of involvement, the NBCC successfully integrated the Diamond & Lasalle Taxis industry in Montreal and tested the Quebec Human Rights legislation with a case against the Queen Elizabeth Hotel, Montreal, for employment discrimination. She served the NBCC in a variety of capacities including National Chairperson, Executive Secretary and Public Relations Officer. She has also served in executive capacities for other community Organizations including the Negro Citizenship Association and the Quebec Board of Black Educators.
She was Montreal delegate to the Sixth Pan African Congress in 1973. As the Canadian co-ordinator she represented Canada in Lagos, Nigeria, at the Planning Meetings of the International Festival Committee for the Second World Black and African Festival of Arts and Culture in 1976-1977. Mrs. Wills has been very active in the philosophy and promotion of multiculturalism. She was a delegate to the first Federal Conference on Multiculturalism in 1971 and served as the Research Associate to the Parliamentary Committee, Participation of Visible Minorities in Canadian Society in 1983-1984. She was also a member of the Canadian Consultative Council for Multiculturalism in Canada from 1981 to 1984.
Wills has been honored with a host of awards, including the Order of Canada, the Martin Luther King Junior Achievement Award, the Congress of Black Women of Canada Award, and the Minister's Award for Excellence in Race Relations. She has also received honorary doctorates from several of Canada's leading universities.
